In 2005, the Court decided two civil cases from Sangamon county and one from Vermilion.  In 2006, the Court decided two Sangamon county cases and one each from McLean, Menard and Scott counties.  In 2007, the Court decided two cases from Sangamon and one from Piatt and Pike.  In 2008, the Court decided four cases from Sangamon and one each from Adams, Champaign, Greene, Macon and McLean counties.  In 2009, the Court decided one case each from Cumberland, Edgar, Sangamon and  Vermilion counties.

In 2010, the Court decided two cases from Sangamon and one from Champaign county.  In 2011, the Court decided only three civil cases from the Fourth District, all from Sangamon.  In 2012, the Court decided three cases from Champaign county and one from Sangamon.  In 2013, the Court decided four cases from Sangamon county and one each from Macoupin, Piatt, Vermilion and Woodford counties.  In 2014, the Court decided two cases each from Macoupin and Sangamon.

The Court decided three civil cases from Champaign county in 2015 and one each from McLean and Sangamon.  In 2016, the Court decided only one Fourth District civil case, which originated in Macoupin county.  In 2017, the Court decided two cases from Sangamon and one each from Champaign and Macon.  The Court decided only one Fourth District case in 2018, which originated in Vermilion county.  So far in 2019, the Court has decided four civil cases from the Fourth District – two from Sangamon and one each from Macon and McLean counties.

So how close to the distribution of the Fourth District’s population were the civil cases between 1990 and 2017?

Champaign county is 15.23% of the population and 17.65% of the civil cases.  Sangamon county accounted for one third of the civil cases, but only 14.96% of the population.  McLean county produced 13.73% of the cases and accounted for 12.85% of the population.  Macon county produced 7.19% of the cases and 8.39% of the total population.  Vermilion county produced 5.23% of the civil cases and accounted for 6.18% of the population.  Adams county is 5.08% of the population, but only 2.61% of the civil caseload.

Among the smallest counties, Calhoun was 0.39% of the population and produced no civil cases.  Scott county was 0.41% of the population and 0.65% of the civil cases.  Brown county was 0.53% of the population and produced no civil cases.  Schuyler county was 0.57% of the population and accounted for no civil cases.  Cumberland county produced 0.65% of the civil cases and 0.84% of the population.  Finally, Menard county was only 0.96% of the population but produced 1.96% of the caseload.

Join us back here next week as we turn our attention to the Court’s Fourth District criminal cases.

Image courtesy of Flickr by NathanMac87 (no changes).